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A plane seized at Bangkok airport laden with weapons from North Korea was en route to Iran, according to US media.

Mystery has surrounded the destination of the Ilyushin-76, which was found to be carrying 35 tons of missiles including surface to air missiles and rocket launchers after it made a refueling stop at Bangkok on December 11.

Thai officials said it was due to fly next to Sri Lanka although Sri Lankan officials said they had no knowledge of the flight. The aircraft's five crew members, from Kazakhstan and Belarus, have mantained that they believed they were carrying oil drilling equipment.

According to the Wall St Journal newspaper, a flight plan for the airplane showed that after Bangkok the plane was due to make refueling stops in Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine before going on to Tehran where it would unload its cargo.

The details of the flight plan is included in a joint draft report by analysts at TransArms, in Chicago, and the International Peace Information Service, (IPIS) in Belgium, organisations which monitor international arms transfers, the Wall St journal reports. The report has not been independently confirmed.

From Iran the weapons could have been passed on to militants in Lebanon or
Gaza.

The flight documents describe the plane's cargo as "oil industry spare parts," suggesting the crew had no idea of the true nature of what they were carrying. The detailed list i... >>>